Clamp



(No Model.)

M., F. HUNT.

CLAMP No. 856,315. Patented'Jan. 181887.

N, PFIERS. Photo-Lithographer, wnmn mn. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MANNING F. HUNT, OF GHIOAGO, ILLINOIS.

CLAMP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 356.315, dated January 18, 1887.

Application filed August 9, 1886. Serial No. 210.392. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MANNING F. HUNT, of

Chicago, State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Clamp for the Display of Hosiery and other Small Articles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to clamps for holding hose or other articles in convenient'form to be hungon a stand or on a line over the counter in retail stores for display; and the objects are to provide a clamp with a succession of mouths and means for holding them open to put the articles in,and forclosing and clamping them together so as to hold each article sepa rate from the others, so that any one may be pulled out without releasing any of the others. I attain these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, of which Figure 1 is a side view of the clamp with the mouths held open, showing the manner of putting in alot of socks. Fig. 2 is aside View with the mouths closed, showing the manner of holdingthe articles. Fig. 3 is an end view.

A designates the clamp proper, which is made of spring-wire, preferably of steel, and consists of a coil or series of rings lying in close contact with each other. The uncoiled ends a of the wire are extended across the center of the rings and bent over. to meet on the side of the series, and coiled about a pin or rivet, a, and from there the ends diverge outwardly again. They are provided with rings or handles a at the extreme ends. The coils at a act as a spring to clamp the rings or jaws together. By pressing the handles together {the rings or jaws are thrown open or apart at lthe opposite side, and the handles may be sprung laterally, so as to pass by each other and interlock so as to hold the rings in this position; or a hook, as 0, may be employed to hold the handles together for this purpose, the position of the rings being then as shown in Fig. 1. When in this position, a dozen (more or less) socks or other'small articles may be placed with one end or corner of each article in one of the openings or months a, between the rings or jaws, and the handles released, and then the articles will be clamped and held of the articles may be taken hold of and pulled out by itself without interfering with or dropping theothers.

' A hook, a is provided, by which the clamp full of articles may be hung up on a line or peg for display. This hook, however, is not a necessary thing, as the clamp may be hung up bythe handles or in any other convenient manner.

that I claim is A clamp, as 'A, composed of a spiral of closely-coiled wire or series of rings compressed together by a spring and connected to a pair of handles having divergent parts (0 coil or rings at the side opposite'from the hinge, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

MANNING F. HUNT. 'Witnesses:

J NO. H. WHIPPLE, J. R. DEAN.

separately, as seen in Fig. 2, so that any one hinged together at a, arranged to distend the I 

